00:00.00 archpodnet Welcome back to episode 2 36 of the crm archeology podcast and we are talking about the curse of the night monitor Although I think it's probably the benefit of the night audit from sanso it sounds kind of fun. But I mean when I was in the Navy I worked night shifts like. The whole time I was in the navy practically and I just got to say there's something about the night shift even though you're just still working hard. You're still doing your job There's something about just like when half the world is asleep half the world around you anyway is asleep and it's fewer people and it's it's almost more focusing I don't I don't know it's um. Just ah, it's a different experience entirely and I've never night monitored for archeology and I have a question about that later but before I get to that Neil I'm just wondering with your you know hollywood background so to speak before being an archeologist. Do you miss it at all I mean do you do you still like freelance doing that kind of stuff I just feel like those creative sort of energies while could be expressed in archeology in various ways. It's a very very different thing that you're doing right now and. Do. You do you have any regrets. Do you still keep a toe in that kind of business like how do you How do you manage both like in your headspace. 01:10.87 neil thompsett Um, that's a very good question because I mean in my previous experience. It was I mean we used to have a joke especially now that we're talking about night shift and day shift at 1 point in my career I was living in Vancouver and I had to manage night and day shift and I was I was working like 20 hour days for like. 01:24.77 archpodnet A. 01:30.15 neil thompsett Ah, whole year and I was like and I even like went delusional where I thought I saw the IT department appear and disappear only to find out I had actually fallen asleep on my desk staring at a screen you know? so so ah you know the joke we used to have in vfx is what do you call someone who works eight one hundred hours a week. We call them half day. 01:31.70 archpodnet Jeez. 01:40.27 archpodnet Oh my god. 01:49.46 neil thompsett You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so so like there are parts that I miss which is the the the camaraderie and and working for for something awesome and and that whole like um, well sorry that that's a whole. There's a whole mentality to vfx artists in general which is like. 02:03.20 archpodnet Um. 02:06.79 neil thompsett We we swear a lot more than construction workers for sure you know where we have a lot more to prove because we're sitting behind a desk and no one respects us I mean we're probably one of the only post-production fields that have no union and whenever it's brought up were shot down and were outsourced I mean like I was given so many options of like. 02:09.44 archpodnet Are. 02:18.70 archpodnet E. 02:24.15 neil thompsett We could either make you a lead here or you could be a manager in India and then I'd be like well crap I'm going to India then and you know I I was in India for for like collectively about a year Vancouver for about a year and a half and then I was in China for a different company for about two months 02:27.40 archpodnet Yeah. 02:34.92 archpodnet Okay. 02:42.80 neil thompsett And what I loved about was was just traveling and understand cultures I think that's probably why I ended up going back to school to become pretty much an archeologist and an anthropologist in some ways but but the parts I I do Miss I think is just basically just the the creative process of like how um. How? how do you create things. How do you build? ah something from nothing I mean like granted like I still get the you know and and you know forgive me because I you know you briefly mentioned you're in the Navy but I have I have vfx ptsd in the sense of like. 03:02.00 archpodnet Yeah. 03:15.17 neil thompsett Anytime anyone's like yeah, it's easy. Can you just do a quick graphic I start shaking and swearing and saying what's the bid. How dare you do this to me. You should have given me 24 hour notice now it's a 9 one 1 How dare you and and you know I get I get? Yeah yeah. 03:23.71 archpodnet Yeah. 03:24.40 Heather Well Neil I've I've got news for you. You just went. You just went from 1 pool to the next other the same thing I was going to say talk about all this um, not represented not. 03:32.77 neil thompsett Oh Wow. Ah. 03:40.88 neil thompsett ME. 03:42.13 Heather Appreciated um, not understood asking for things last minute that that may come a little bit later in yourerum career. But um, yeah I just you know just to dash all your dreams and everything ah just went from one misery to the next. But no, um. Yeah, those I'm curious. Um, what? what differences and actually what what kind of skills. Do you think that just it could just be personal skills. Um, do you think that you have carried over from from the 1 discipline to the next I'm actually a second career. 04:17.10 archpodnet Yeah. 04:19.32 neil thompsett Oh really understood understood Um, one of the things that did help that brought that I brought over is that no matter what in in visual effects. You're always supposed to have a positive attitude and that ah. 04:21.47 Heather This is my second career as well. So that's where I'm kind of coming from from that. 04:35.53 archpodnet E. 04:38.75 neil thompsett It would be the idea being that if everyone's under the cooker and we're all in the studio we have to figure out a way to be nice to each other right? Ah, that's 1 thing I did bring over where I do my best to keep any situation easy going and fun I mean like I know I can I could be also just kind of ah annoying you know Andrew can tell you that. 04:44.43 archpodnet Right. 04:55.70 Andrew Kinkella Ah, yeah, so annoying. 04:58.18 neil thompsett Yeah, but but it's it's one of those that I try to bring that We also have like mutual respect for each other so we don't particularly like actually sorry similarities. Not not not flashbacks. Sorry sorry um, um, but the the other part is is just um. 05:08.75 Heather But the have. 05:16.61 neil thompsett Having a lot of patience especially when the when there's a lot of pressure to show up on time and make sure that you're on the right project and things that's that's also a vfx thing. Yeah yeah. 05:24.11 Heather Okay, right tell type I Appreciate you stay healthy until your know time. Still. 05:24.32 Andrew Kinkella Right? You know what? I I would just break into say Neil I totally noticed those kind of skills. You know when you were out in the field like like the patients thing you were a very patient um sort of daily. You know, student at the site like you. Took things as they came and sort of very much rolled with the punches you know and and maybe you know that that sort of transposes over to to the earlier Hollywood career. 05:44.74 neil thompsett Yeah. 05:50.10 neil thompsett Ah, yeah I mean because because in the end of the day we're all in it right? or it's it's not about us. It's it's the greater good right? It's it's making sure that your movie gets up because in the end we don't give a crap about film. We we give a crap about the 10 minutes when our name appears on the black screen in the end. That's what we really care about. 05:53.45 Andrew Kinkella E. 05:54.19 archpodnet And. 06:04.72 Andrew Kinkella Right? mm. 06:09.27 neil thompsett Or at least that's what I cared about maybe everyone else really wants to change a shade on Spiderman's freaking hand and and live happily I don't know sorry I'm just whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly and the the other the other stuff that came through is the green light laser pointer. 06:16.32 Andrew Kinkella Ah, it's all right? where you're among friends. 06:26.74 neil thompsett That that actually used to be something we used to do in QC now 06:27.48 Andrew Kinkella You know I that laser pointer thing I think is Genius and and I'd like to expand on some of that as we talk to your your tips you know for night monitoring. 06:28.11 archpodnet A. 06:35.49 neil thompsett Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, no worries, no worries. Um, and also basically ah basically concept art sketches actually help a lot. Especially if we're out in the field drawing and the idea is that although the names are a little bit different the way I remember it is top view side view three quarter view 06:46.31 archpodnet Oh. 06:54.87 neil thompsett And we're I'm talking about like character design and things like that. So so when we're out out in the field doing a sketch map. You know it's it's top view. No point per view ah top view three quarter view right? We're doing that and then I I think the first few logs I made a mistake because I was doing angle shots of like stuff we were finding. 06:55.24 Andrew Kinkella M. 06:55.36 archpodnet Sure. 07:08.71 archpodnet Red. 07:10.85 neil thompsett You know where where it's like okay we're doing the three quarter angle. So I know it's from this distance and top inside and they're like no you just you just need to top. You just need a top and a scale and I'd be like yeah but I'm I'm almost done with the shading. Don't worry empty I'm almost done come on come on just give it to me give it to me. You know. 07:15.00 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 07:18.70 archpodnet I Just I Just imagine your site sketches are like a comic book sketch and you've got like wham up in the corner. You know like where the. 07:19.72 Andrew Kinkella The right. 07:28.46 Heather Yeah, that's what that's funny. That's hilarious. 07:28.47 Andrew Kinkella Totally Ah, ah. 07:30.67 neil thompsett Extreme zoomin. Yeah yeah, so so those those things carried over personal skills are definitely important when I was a man when I was a trainer a global trainer slash lead artist in India my job was also to write. 07:36.34 archpodnet Ah, ah. 07:50.45 neil thompsett No end of log reports every night about number one. What's going on where are we at what is the what is how's about say what? the depth is but but but I mean like technically there's depth. Also we have to do fake fake para parallax and all that shit ah stuff. So. 07:51.78 Andrew Kinkella Right. 07:52.21 archpodnet M. 08:02.80 archpodnet Dep. Yeah sure. 08:07.61 neil thompsett Um, that stuff carried over as well and I think the the difference is I got the feeling that people in crm. Um, ah I guess it's I'm I'm new so I'm and I'm novice by saying this. They're a bit more easy going. 08:19.96 Heather Are. 08:21.69 neil thompsett Then let's say a producer breathing down your neck and asking how come 48 shots aren't done yet and it's only 5 right? but that oh just wait. Yeah, okay, it's common. It's coming. Yeah so so and and and people are genuinely I feel like. 08:24.96 Heather Just wait Neil just wait. Let's wait. Ah. 08:25.50 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 08:31.79 archpodnet Um, yeah, yeah. 08:32.63 Andrew Kinkella Yet. 08:39.71 neil thompsett There's There's definitely more of a feeling of of we're we're doing this because we love it in vfx at least my generation was we're doing it until that director position opens or we're doing it until my acting career takes off. You know it was always kind of a standby place. 08:54.30 Andrew Kinkella Um, right. 08:55.90 neil thompsett And then it's only only recently after the successes of like Neil bloom camp and people like that where everyone's like no, we now want to be vfx artists and it it always blows my mind when I meet I've actually met younger archeologists who tell me that they want to and I kind of blink a why? Do you want to hurt yourself and then and then it just blows my mind. Like yeah, we're 2 mirrors staring at each other if that makes any sense you know? yeah. 09:16.44 Heather I will. 09:17.51 Andrew Kinkella But right you you know Neil um, but back to some of those sort of ah tips and stuff I'm just trying to call these because you throw out some great ideas. You know the spy glass do this great that totally I mean it sounds funny but it totally makes sense. 09:24.54 neil thompsett No. 09:36.40 Andrew Kinkella I was wondering if you have any tips that the thing that used to be the toughest for me in night monitoring was I just those lights so super bright lights at night. They just make everything look gray. They make everything look like just like this 2 dimensional yeah washed out gray moonscape and and it's like. 09:46.16 neil thompsett Yeah. 09:46.71 Heather When we watched out. 09:52.28 neil thompsett Right. 09:55.81 Andrew Kinkella I'm like how am I going to see the mono in this you know, um for for me personally I used to always try and um conserve my night vision like consciously like don't look at any bright lights. Don't look at any bright lights you know, but but do you have any. 10:07.79 neil thompsett Right. 10:09.52 Heather You know, but but do you like to print on that. 10:12.30 Andrew Kinkella Tips or tricks on that that seeing through the moonscape. 10:14.50 neil thompsett Ah, the the main. The main trick is just getting used to how things reflect is something that I use right? because because that will the the texture of what we're seeing will help if you can tell where the angle of the light is coming from. Yeah. 10:19.70 Andrew Kinkella M. 10:29.70 Andrew Kinkella Right. 10:29.91 archpodnet Okay. 10:32.44 neil thompsett And the other part that I learned how to get over that as well is that only works 1% of time. The other time is you have to build a lot of trust with the construction workers. You're working with especially if it's night shift because they have you have to trust them that they're not going to run off with with half the stuff and just not tell you what they find and and and the other the other part is. 10:39.59 Andrew Kinkella Yeah, yeah. Um. 10:51.36 neil thompsett You have to know you know there has to be a middle ground on that I relied heavily on them because they are in there and I'm not allowed to go in and all I can do is spare stare from my periscope which which they all found hilarious. You know because because they were they were saying you could just get a gopro and send it down then. 10:56.95 Andrew Kinkella Right. 11:07.74 Heather Um. 11:10.84 neil thompsett But but they you know they found it endearing and they all took turns looking at it on their break. So yeah, yeah, yeah, um, the the trick the trick was just just making sure that I could just understand where the light source is coming from and then how it was hitting things just to tell the differences right? and that. 11:13.30 Andrew Kinkella Of course. 11:14.71 Heather Ah. 11:24.60 Andrew Kinkella Um, right? Yeah, that's great that totally makes sense and and my other sort of thing that I'm curious about that Even when you have the night shift and you're prepared. There is that moment when you get tired. You know there's that like lull about. 11:26.20 archpodnet E. 11:30.64 neil thompsett Yeah, it's the only thing I could yeah. 11:37.96 neil thompsett Yeah, yeah. 11:42.56 Andrew Kinkella 2 thirds of the way through where you're like oh man I'm tired. Um, do you have any tips or tricks to like keep focus you know because yeah, you can stay awake but like the focus part can get so difficult you know, ah is there anything that you do for that. 11:57.28 neil thompsett Ah, stretching is something and that helped me basically basically basically just twisting and stretching. So your back wouldn't hurt and then and then just rolling it and then I guess on the brakes Basically just just you know I don't have explained. It's like blink exercises. Ah. 12:00.70 archpodnet Oh. 12:00.86 Andrew Kinkella Ah, right. 12:13.23 Andrew Kinkella Um. 12:16.39 neil thompsett Basically that's something I learned vfx because after a certain point you don't blink because you're used to staring frame by frame when things are going by to see a mistake so you have to kind of force yourself to blink every now and then so the idea is if you do blink exercises on your break. You don't actually go to sleep right? but your eyes just feel refreshed. 12:20.29 Andrew Kinkella Right. 12:21.41 archpodnet Oh yeah. 12:33.21 archpodnet Yeah. 12:35.28 neil thompsett Those are some of the tricks I did I mean other other times it was it was basically just ah, staying by the the diesel generators that generated a lot of heat and smoke near the exhaust. So then the idea is that the smell of the exhaust which is probably bad because we'll probably pass out but but the smell of the yeah it. 12:43.91 Andrew Kinkella Right. 12:49.78 Heather Yeah, ah. 12:50.66 Andrew Kinkella It's not so good. 12:52.74 neil thompsett Yeah, the the heat alone actually the feeling of that heat next to your leg will actually keep you up. So I mean not to burn yourself, but just just so that it it keeps you from falling asleep. 12:54.88 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 13:01.60 Andrew Kinkella Right? totally. 13:03.35 archpodnet That's archeology though you just suffer enough pain just to keep you going That's ah. 13:04.97 neil thompsett Exactly yeah. 13:05.69 Heather Right? The cold always kind of keeps me awake but I could I mean just every part Everybody's different and trying to figure out. You know what works for you I'm curious. Did they get so what kind of um, it sounds like there was a safety officer on. 13:12.98 archpodnet Ah, yeah. 13:17.73 Andrew Kinkella Yanna. 13:22.61 neil thompsett Oh yeah. 13:24.83 Heather On the um on the site. So um, you know was there any training did you have any training that that would be 1 thing that I would so you know when we we do have not night monitoring. We have some projects that are night monitoring a lot of it tends to be like highway monitoring. So that's obviously another. Kind of um or street monitoring. That's something that is um, you know can has its own dangers especially at night because people that are driving at night are either sleepy or unfortunately sometimes intoxicated and so just keeping the safety being aware all the time. It's not just. 13:48.69 neil thompsett M. 13:54.52 neil thompsett Now. 14:01.80 Heather You know, having that tunnel vision of being an archeologist and looking for what archeology what you would look for as an archeologist but also keeping yourself safe. 14:10.11 neil thompsett Ah, yeah, the the beauty of of the place that I'm spit are working on especially on the site. Um there. There was no end of safety training that was paid for so there was a lot of safety training that that. I had to qualify for before we could even begin and it was it was paid for by the company. So There was a lot of safety review safety training safety classes and then the idea was once I was certified. They'd give me stickers and I'd be good to go? Yeah, So yeah, it was. It was very professional in that sense and I was yeah I was very fortunate about that. 14:26.62 Heather My hair. 14:33.99 archpodnet Okay. 14:34.90 Heather Good. Good. 14:45.63 neil thompsett You know classes I don't have to pay for by the way. Yeah Brave New world. 14:46.52 Heather Yeah, right? Well once you're starting. We've we've talked about this in the past when you're starting just you know for somebody who's new and in crm new I um, you know if you shouldn't be paying for classes once you start working for a COrMCompany 14:47.82 Andrew Kinkella And. 14:56.38 neil thompsett M m. 15:00.83 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 15:04.89 Heather Especially especially if it's classes that are required for a project. You should never pay for those. So. 15:08.41 Andrew Kinkella Now. 15:09.69 neil thompsett Yeah, you. 15:09.91 archpodnet The 1 the 1 exception I would possibly say is if you plan to work on any mining projects especially in Nevada but mining pretty much anywhere but mining is just heavy in Nevada if you can and you have the you have the money in the time. 15:18.78 neil thompsett And. 15:25.55 archpodnet Go get your mshaw certification on your own and I'm I'm only saying that because a company if you work for them long enough. Obviously they will send you to mshaw training and they'll send you to the refresher as well. But sometimes like all companies they're trying to get people at the last minute and you just can't get mshaw scheduled in time. It's just not possible unless they have their own trainer. Yeah, so you'll exactly. 15:25.72 Heather On. 15:39.00 Heather Yeah, right? exactly like has whopper has whopper. Yeah. 15:39.79 neil thompsett Yeah, yeah. 15:45.39 archpodnet Yeah, some of that stuff. That's that's difficult to get scheduled. It's like months and months out just kind of get it done if you ever think you want to go get 1 of those jobs or you know something like that. That's the only thing I would say um, hey let's go ahead and ah take this to break and when we come back, we'll finish out with some other tips and some other questions about night monitoring. 15:52.48 neil thompsett Yeah, okay. 16:05.70 archpodnet Back in a minute.